


A Lesson In Love And Magic

by ABlackRaven



Series: Justice For Jussipo [2]
Category: The Letter for the King (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23396566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABlackRaven/pseuds/ABlackRaven
Summary: So this vaguely follows after my other work for the Letter For the King, The Letter For The King; The Justice For Gays. There are references to that story in here, so you may consider reading that first. I don't plan on writing any follow up stories to this idea, but when it was suggested on tumblr I couldn't resist writing it. Kudos and thanks to the person who suggested this and beta read it!Perhaps magic isn't a gift confined to a few special individuals. What if it were an energy residing in all of us? Could Lavinia teach others to harness and wield it?Or: Jussipo and Foldo get tired of magic lessons and go horseback riding
Relationships: Foldo/Jussipo (The Letter for the King)
Series: Justice For Jussipo [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1681669
Comments: 16
Kudos: 127





	A Lesson In Love And Magic

Sure, the idea of learning magic was great. In theory, actually, it was awesome. Jussipo still remembered the rush of excitement he had felt when Lavinia came to them with the idea. So, with the help and direction of the queen, Lavinia had set out to teach her newly knighted friends the gift of magic. 

The entire world was tense at the moment. Thanks to the group of friends the darkness had been thwarted, but there was no telling when it might rise again. Everyone knew that the prince still had supporters that lurked in the shadows. The queen was clearly worried the kingdom might need them to be knights again in the near future . Having them armed with magic, potentially having them teach even more knights, made sense. 

Part of Jussipo clung to the idea of it, having that power at his fingertips at a moment’s notice. He knew it would be invaluable when Foldo and him set off on their journey the coming summer, that it could save someone’s life. It could very well be that it saved their lives. Jussipo wanted that power to protect people, especially the people he loved. The thought of sitting helplessly by while another person he cared about bled out in his hands terrified him. 

But when Lavinia had said “magic lessons” this was not exactly what Jussipo had been picturing. “Harness your inner light,” had not registered in his mind as “a boring lecture and tedious books.” And the books were nothing short of tedious, none of their authors seemingly having any idea about how magic actually worked. 

Theoretically it was possible for them to call on their magic, they had all seen Jussipo help Lavinia save Foldo in that cave. Magic did not appear to be a gift confined to specific people, though people like Lavinia and the shamans of Eviellen were clearly born with a strong ability to call upon it. Lavinia said she could feel something deep inside all of them, every living being she walked by. She said they just had to be patient. 

It was a nice summer day, cooled by a faint breeze that blew through the air. Not too hot, certainly not too cold. It would have been the perfect day to go for a horseback ride with Foldo in the countryside of Dragonaut, not a care in the world. He could have written songs and Foldo could have braided his hair. But no, they had lessons. Lessons that wore on monotonously day after day, always bearing the same failures. 

Jussipo was tired of being patient. 

He wouldn’t say he was exactly tired walking to the study they had been practicing in that day, he was exhausted. Not physically, but mentally. He had not slept well either, nightmares of Foldo’s near-death experience still weighing heavy on his mind. His feet felt heavier as he trudged along, in stark contrast to the usual spring in his step. 

The sight of Foldo turning the corner immediately brought some life and happiness back to his face. They smiled when they caught each other’s eyes, their fingers intertwining before they had even spoken words of greeting.

Foldo noticed the dark shadows under Jussipo’s eyes and raised an eyebrow, “Are you sleeping well?” His concern sent a small dagger into Jussipo’s heart. 

Jussipo nodded as they walked, not wanting to dwell on the nightmares by discussing them. “Just tired. This,” He gestured with his hands to the upcoming library where they were going to meet the others, “Feels absolutely pointless. Same thing every day, and nothing ever works.” 

Foldo sighed, “Starting to feel like it isn’t possible. But if it were impossible...well I wouldn’t be here, would I? Surely it is then.” 

They walked along in silence for a moment, before Jussipo stopped, “What if we just didn’t go today Foldo? There’s always tomorrow. What if we just took a break?” 

“What would even do?” 

“Go for a ride,” He shrugged, “Get out of the city. Among other potential activities,” He grinned, “Rest is as important as work. Lavinia didn’t come across her magic by sitting in a stuffy room with old books, she lived, and it found her.” 

Foldo smiled, and together they turned to walk to the stables. 

\---

Jussipo was right in his assumption this would be the perfect day for riding. Their horses cantered across the foothills of Dagonaut’s mountains, the wind streaming along with them. The sky held the perfect amount of clouds to provide cover from the sun and still allow its warmth to reach them. Playfully, they raced each other, riding along from hill to hill. 

The hills were lined with wildflowers, in full bloom thanks to the spring rains that had nearly washed the country away not two months prior. Patches of indigo lupins, soft white thistles, red poppies, and yellow daisies dotted the landscape in a rainbow tapestry of color. In the distance blue-white mountains rose, carving the horizon into the sky. 

It was idyllic perfection, but not for the wildflowers or the crisp mountain air in his lungs. Jussipo realized at a certain point it could have been the most overcast, gloomy winter day and he would have still felt the overflowing happiness that tore at his heart. It was perfect because of his companion, the fellow rider who laughed as they cantered and galloped along. 

He couldn’t bear the thought of what the day would have been like if he lived it alone, and so he didn’t. Jussipo pushed the memories of darkness and his anxiety for the future away, letting himself live in the moment and the time he had been given. Because he knew there wasn’t a guarantee of tomorrow for either of them, living the lives of sword and shield they had committed themselves too. 

But that was okay, because they had the present, they had today. Tomorrow would never truly come, it would always be today they found themselves living in. So it was best to make the best of today, without fear of a day that never would come. 

When the sun had worn high into the sky, reaching its peak, they met the edge of the woods and stopped to eat a short lunch in a shaded clearing. Jussipo strummed his lute softly as Foldo finished his share of the food, both of them having filled their canteen from the nearby spring of cool mountain water. 

They talked of everything and nothing, the words hardly important. It was enough to be there, to be together, to be free from their fears if only for a moment of respite. Jussipo sang songs and Foldo soon found himself braiding Jussipo’s hair, which he had allowed himself to grow slightly longer. He laughed when Foldo started to braid in the flowers, but found he would not have cared to pull them out even if Piak had been just around the corner to tease him for it. 

“What do you think it, magic, really is?” Foldo asked softly, putting the question in the air. “Lavinia talks about it like it's some ball of light in a person’s chest, as real as the light from the sun or a candle. But no matter what I do I can’t...see anything like what she describes.” 

Jussipo shrugged, adjusting the lute in his hands, “I don’t know,” He said softly. 

“What did you see, when…” Foldo left the rest of his question unsaid, “Well, you’re the only one besides Lavinia we’re sure can accomplish anything with the light she apparently sees in us. So, what did you see?” 

He pondered the question for a moment, then answered, “You. I just saw...you, and the light I suppose. The rest of the world seemed...distant at that point. I thought I was losing you. So everything else fell away and ceased to be important. Lavinia wasn’t even Lavinia anymore, she was just a glowing star, a mass of light. I didn’t really think about whatever magic I added to her spell, it just happened.” Jussipo felt his heart tighten at the memory of that moment. 

Foldo was quiet, clearly processing his answer. He then smiled, finishing off the last braid and moving to sit closer to him. “Maybe,” He said quietly, “We really have been going about learning about magic in the wrong way. Doesn’t seem like a book or a lecture or some grubby academic scientists helped you or Lavinia.” 

Jussipo smiled, relaxing to lean against Foldo, “You think so?” 

“Hmm,” Foldo nodded, “Can I kiss you?” It was a tender question, a soft question, a question that set off warmth and light in Jussipo’s heart brighter than any magic he had seen thus far. Joy leaped around in his head at Foldo’s words, excited beyond belief. 

“I thought you’d never ask.” 

There was something desperate about the tenderness of it, a desire to never leave the clearing, to keep each other safe forever. The future was running towards them faster than they could ride away, and before long it would catch up. So they pulled each other close in the moment, carved out a hole in space and time to fill with their love for each other, like a god carving a hole in the night sky for the birth of a new star. Jussipo closed his eyes and clung to that moment. 

At the edge of the clearing their horses whinnied, clearly surprised but not afraid or alarmed. Love surrounded them both, binding their fates and their hearts in a loop of infinity. It was gentle, but powerful, like the ancient trees that rose around them. And from that love there was a powerful energy, a warmth, a light, that was unforgettable. 

Magic. 

It was light, but part of it was also darkness, in all the negative spaces where they both found themselves broken and forged anew, stronger together in love. It was warmth, but part of it was also the cold of winter in which life sleeps so that it may grow stronger in the spring. It was a song that couldn’t be sung by one voice alone. 

The wind stirred from its gentle dance through the mountains, turning to dance to the music of love between the two young knights. The leaves in the trees rippled with the waves of it, buckling and turning to the rhythm of the waves of magic in the air. The seeds and petals of the flowers joined the dance, turning the air into a tapestry of the rainbow earth. 

Jussipo’s eyes stayed locked with Foldo’s when he opened them, their foreheads resting against each other gently. Around them the petals slowly drifted back to earth, surrounding them in a strange spiral pattern that still thrummed gently with excess magic. The wind returned to the natural dance of the magic of nature, and the rustling of the leaves lost its rhythmic pattern.He found himself smiling, grinning wildly and freely from ear to ear. 

And Jussipo knew they had begun to carve holes into the night sky tapestries of their intertwined lives, holes they were going to fill one by one with stars that beamed with radiant light. When the day came for them to not pick up their swords again, whether it be in old age or in youth, Jussipo would be content. The stars would always shine in their moments of time with the light of love, even if they were destined to one day all fall to earth. 

The sound of horse hooves broke the silence in the clearing. Lavinia, Tiuri, and the others had found them. “I suppose this was the point of skipping class?” Lavinia queried. 

Jussipo shrugged, unabashedly smiling, “It was. How did you find us?” 

“The twister you summoned was like ten thousand miles tall!” Piak exclaimed, clearly exaggerating, “It was incredible. How did you do it?” Jussipo and Foldo met each other’s eyes, both wondering what the answer to Piak’s question actually was. 

And there was an unspoken answer hanging in the air all around them, an answer they had found not in a classroom or a book, but in living. Magic was not found in themselves, it was found in their bonds to each other. The force of love, swirling between Jussipo and Foldo, Jussipo and Piak, Lavinia and Tiuri, between all of them. Friendship, family, love. 

The strongest, most unbreakable, form of magic. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you would like to submit ideas for Jussipo/Foldo stories message me here or on tumblr @ https://www.tumblr.com/blog/casually-ananarchist-tomato


End file.
